Geological field trips in Central Western Europe

The field trips described in this volume were organized in conjunction with the "Fragile Earth" international conference of 4-7 September 2011, in Munich, Germany. The conference was jointly organized by the Geological Society of America and the German Geological Societies (Geologische Vereinigung and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften), and it was hosted by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Munich. This series of field trips examines the records and recording tools of geological processes, from plate motions, to deep crustal structure and deformation, to near-surface processes and interactions between the Earth's surface and climate. Three chapters focus on observatories and communicating geosciences to the public through geoparks, while four other papers loosely define a north-south geological cross-section through the eastern Alps of Germany and Austria and its foreland basin.